In Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, Adol and party take on the arduous task of exploring Siren Island, but they don't have to do it without some help. As previously reported the castaways Cathleen and Aaron lend their skills to the party through blacksmithing and item crafting, respectively. Both will be important support characters as there are no merchants on Siren Island.

Cathleen can perform three different tasks as a blacksmith. She can strengthen weapons to improve attack power, drill weapons to change them by adding special materials, or she can create armor out of those special materials.

Aaron, on the other hand, can create various sorts of arm armor and accessories that have more specific stat boosts and abilities. He can also disassemble items the team no longer needs to recycle the materials.

Though he is not a castaway, Master Kong is another important support character. Master Kong is a giant ape who has been teaching Ricotta to fight since her infancy. Though he cannot speak in human tongues, he is very intelligent and can communicate with Ricotta. If you bring him a ripe mango, his favorite fruit, you can fight him to learn powerful skills.

Another important system is the use of "location points." Location points are landmarks that dot Siren Island. Once your party discovers one it will be marked on your map, allowing you to fast-travel and traverse the map more quickly.

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana comes out on PS Vita in Japan on July 21 and for PlayStation 4 in 2017. Check out our updated gallery to get the whole picture.